Wagga Kildare Catholic College careers adviser Karen Murray has defended her profession's role in combating high youth unemployment.
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Ms Murray was responding to comments made by NSW Business Chamber Murray and Riverina regional manager Andrew Cottrill, who suggested that students were not being made aware of apprenticeships and traineeships through their schools.
"I have a really close working relationship with all the careers advisers in Wagga and there wouldn't be one adviser who is saying to a kid thinking of doing a trade 'you should be going to university'," she said.
"I can say hand-on-heart that there is not one adviser doing that."
Mr Cottrill previously told The Daily Advertiser that businesses were not being able to find applicants with the right skills.
"We have got employers who are unable to find people to take on apprenticeships and traineeships yet at the same time we have poor youth unemployment," he said.
"There are a number of factors that influence that issue and one of them is that the careers advice model in schools is not working adequately.
"We survey 30,000 young people every year and 19 per cent said they were pushed towards a university degree when they felt it wasn't necessarily the right step for them."
Ms Murray said Kildare's numbers showed greater acceptance of trade-based career pathways, particularly among parents, whom she considered the biggest factor in influencing students.
"About 10 years ago, maybe five per cent of our kids would have done a non-ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admission Rank) course of study, whereas now it's 33 per cent," she said.
"In our year 11 group, 40 per cent of students are doing a VET (Vocational Education and Training) subject."
Ms Murray pointed to 17-year-old student Nicholas Gorman, who had a range of options post-school but was looking at construction.
"Telling him to go to university instead does not cross my mind," she said.
Nicholas said the different pathways were treated "on an equal level".
"Here at Kildare, you shouldn't think less of yourself if you choose non-ATAR," he said.
Riverina youth unemployment was 13.1 per cent in January, remaining almost three per cent higher than the NSW average, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Ms Murray said she agreed with Mr Cottrill that there needed to be more consultation between schools, business and TAFE but said schools had already started making that effort.